ONEIDA COUNTY, N.Y. (WUTR/WFXV/WPNY) – After Mayor Robert Palmieri announced an over $1 million investment to increase parking capacity in Bagg’s Square, we spoke with Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente about his plans for that area as well as what he calls the U-District.
“Where insight house is to the train station if you draw a line down Whitesboro street and connect to Main Street at union station. That could all be developed in terms of a lot of vacant space.
In his State of the County address, Picente talked about a casino among a number of other developments for the area…he says they have a lot on their plate right now surrounding the Nexus Center and the MVHS parking garage. Once this is done, they can move forward.
“There is going to be a lot of activity there and activity is people and we want to capitalize on the people aspect of nexus and the U-District and really find out and do some surveying and see what else we need to put there experience we want to develop Bagg’s Square where the public market is into a food emporium and continue to walk from there into the U-District,” said Picente.
Now, Picente is calling on Mayor Palmieri to work in partnership with the county government and collaborate on the best way to maximize the investments both offices have made.
“That whole corridor should not be just parking,” said Picente
The Mayor says that he has spoken with the state and business owners and…
“The need is there today, I’m not waiting for tomorrow,” said Robert Palmieri, Mayor of Utica.
Another concern Picente has is that the county should be included in these conversations after the investments they have made.